George II of Great Britain

George II (November 101683 – October 251760) was King of Great Britain and Ireland and Elector of Hanover from 1727. Born and raised in Germany, he was the last British monarch born outside Great Britain. He had poor relationships with his father and, subsequently, with his son. As king, he exercised little control over policy in Britain as the government was largely controlled by Parliament, although he was influential in foreign policy, and had far greater power in Hanover. He was the last British monarch to lead an army in battle (at Dettingen in 1743).

He had the haughtiness of Henry the Eighth, without his spirit; the avarice of Henry the Seventh, without his exactions; the indignities of Charles the First, without his bigotry for his prerogative; the vexations of King William, with as little skill in the management of parties; and the gross gallantry of his father, without his goodnature or his honesty:– he might, perhaps, have been honest, if he had never hated his father, or had ever loved his son.

Horace WalpoleMemoirs of the Reign of King George the Second (1847) vol. 1, p. 180